Halloween 81

[Bex]

No: HPFGUIDX 109049

Lorel said:
> Isn't there some comment in OotP that 
> even though Harry knew the address of the Order, he would be 
> restricted by magic so that he would not be able to mention it to 
> people outside the Order? Also, even though DD is the Secret Keeper 
> for 12 GP, others know of the address. 

Ybby's turn:

I don't entirely agree. I think others know of the /address/. 
Certainly Narcissa and Lucius Malfoy do, since they're family. Maybe 
they didn't "forget" the address or where it was located, but unless 
Dumbledore (the secret-keeper) told them by mouth or writing, they 
wouldn't be able to "find" the house. I am led to believe this 
because Lucius knew Sirius was in Narcissa's family, so he may have 
checked the old Black house on occasion. If he had any clue that 
someone was living there (besides Kreacher, who would most certainly 
say so), (because he had found the house, not the HQ), he would 
immediately become suspicious. So I think no one who hasn't been told 
the "secret" can find the building, similar to being unplottable.

Another speculation is that the building would be found, but not 
what's hiding in it. Maybe in the scenario above, Lucy could find the 
house and even go in it, but he wouldn't see the Order members. I 
find this a little harder to believe, though a quote in PoA seems to 
sort-of support this thought: I think Flitwick mentions this in the 3 
Broomsticks [paraphrased]:
 "He [LV] could be looking right in the window, but still not be able 
to find the Potters if the SK didn't tell him they were there."

Yes it's true that only the SK can tell an "uninformed" person the 
secret: he little slip of paper in OotP is in DD's handwriting (we 
can check that from past books). That means that the SK (secret-
keeper) and /only/ the SK can give the information to someone, before 
that information is/can be validated. Otherwise, Moody could have 
told Harry, or Tonks. Once someone has been told the secret, I don't 
think it matters who that person tells: if their listener doesn't 
know the secret, he/she can't see the building/hiding spot, etc. I 
find it hard to believe that magic would restrict someone from 
speaking the information.

Example:
Moody tells Harry "The location of the Order of the Phoenix is..."
Harry knows this: Moody just told him. But Harry can't see the 
building, since Moody isn't the SK. (I likes the description of the 
houses jumping apart for #12 to squeeze in. It just seemed funny.)

Now, DD tells Harry, "The location of..." Now Harry knows the 
information, and he can find the house, because DD is the SK, so the 
fact that the house exists is validated, and the fact that the OotP 
is there can be validated.

With the Potters and Halloween '81, Sirius and James were best 
friends, and they both knew about the Peter/Sirius switch. Sirius 
would want to see his godchild at times, etc., so I suppose that when 
the Potters performed the Fidelius Charm, Peter immediately told 
Sirius the "secret." Sirius knew the Potter's address, but if he went 
there without Peter telling him the secret, he wouldn't be able to 
find the building. Telling Sirius was a safe move because even if he 
did tell someone where the Potters were hiding, no one could /find/ 
the place unless Peter told them. This is supported by my example 
above. The Potters' whereabouts could be common knowledge (though I 
doubt it), but as long as Peter kept his rat-trap shut, no one would 
be able to find them.

Back to Lorel: 
> My hunch is that others (DD, Sirius, and Hagrid, at least) did know 
> where the Potters were staying in Godric's Hollow, but would not 
have 
> been able to pass that information to anyone who was not "in on" 
that 
> secret - just like the members of the Order in OotP.

Back to Ybby:
I agree with a former poster in this thread, that perhaps when the 
building is destroyed, the Charm is broken. That is the only 
explanation I have for DD and Hagrid being able to find the last 
Potter (he would be protected by the Fidelius Charm as well, unless 
it had been broken.) Otherwise, DD would have known that Peter was 
the SK, and /he/ (Peter) betrayed the Potters to LV, as would Hagrid 
(since DD couldn't have told him himself.)

~Yb, on a post that wasn't supposed to be so long.